A Tough Battle Awaits?

It's time for Tien to make his debut in the European Indoor Hardcourt season...

Ah yes, Tien... we almost forgot about him ;) After a fantastic couple of tournaments in Asia, he decided to skip both the ATP 250 & 500 indoor hardcourt tournaments before Paris. I think this might have been a good choice; he really needed to rest up a bit. And now, he has the chance to finish strong in Paris and Metz. Borges has only one match on indoor hardcourt since coming back from China, but it was a great match against Medvedev in Vienna. Before that, he had a decent showing against ADM. This is a matchup that I think suits both players quite well. They are both solid baseliners with great rally tolerance, fighting spirit, and good point construction. They both share a similar weakness: getting overwhelmed by pace. However, that should not be a problem in this matchup for either. I'm expecting a match where both players will have the ability to take care of their own serve quite well. This tends to happen quite often when two Solid Baseliners face off, as their similar playstyles amplify the serving advantage. While I do think Tien is the better player, however, the conditions here should be quite suitable for Borges... he tends to like the slow-medium speed and the low-ish bounce works nicely with his flat groundstrokes! Ultimately, with not a lot to separate them (on paper), could we be looking at a tight and long match here...?